Entergy Texas, Inc. is making progress in the aftermath of Hurricane Ike and is now projecting an Oct. 6 restoration of electric service to all customers.

Company officials announced that power will be restored to 80 percent of Beaumont within 15 days, weather permitting. For customers in The Woodlands north of Houston, some power was restored Monday night with the majority tonight.

All other population centers served by Entergy Texas will be 80 percent restored by Sept. 25. Many customers throughout Entergy's service area will have their power on before the estimated time. The pace of restoration will steadily increase as Entergy Texas completes assessments and continues repairing damage to the transmission and distribution systems.

Also, restoration estimates are based on the number of customers who can take power. Tens of thousands of Entergy customers in Texas will likely have their electricity service returned every day during the restoration process. Progress will be slowest in areas that are the most severely damaged or that are physically remote.

"Let me emphasize that our crews are committed to getting all power restored as safely and as quickly as possible," said Joe Domino, president and CEO for Entergy Texas, Inc. "Even so, we are not in a race. We still have a lot of work in front of us that will take weeks to complete.

"Meanwhile, we appreciate the patience and understanding of our customers," he said. "And we want to assure them that at this very hour, Entergy is doing everything in its power to get their power back on."

Entergy Texas serves all or part of 26 Southeast Texas counties, which cover some 15,320 square miles. Of the 395,000 homes and businesses served by Entergy Texas, 392,000 or 99 percent were left without power. As of today, the company has completed 70 percent of its assessments in Southeast Texas. Power has been restored to about 18,138 or 5 percent.

Hurricane Ike pounded Southeast Texas beginning late Friday and throughout most of the day Saturday. By the time the storm passed through Entergy Texas' service area, 99 percent of the company's 395,000 customers were without power. Damage from the storm was more severe than that from Hurricane Rita which struck the area in September 2005.